Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 5: After remaining in deep slumber for nearly three years, the State Government has finally started realizing the importance of the Results Framework Document (RFD) with Government directing the Administrative Secretaries to prepare the documents of their respective departments for 2016-17 year. However, only time will tell how much seriousness will be adopted in this regard as the directives of the Union Cabinet Secretariat towards adopting widely accepted methodology to evaluate performance of the Government departments have not received required attention till date.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that the issue of framing Results Framework Document by each department of the State Government came up for discussion during the meeting of Committee of Secretaries convened by the Chief Secretary, B R Sharma yesterday. It was noted with concern by the Chief Secretary that this unique step aimed at evaluating performance of the departments at the end of every year could not be followed in its right earnest till date because of varied reasons.
The flash floods of September 2014 and subsequent elections were seen as the hurdles in having proper Result Framework Document for each department, sources said, adding “the Chief Secretary has directed all the Administrative Secretaries to begin the process for formulation of RFD for 2016-17 so that the same are put in place before the start of next financial year”.
Keeping in mind certain points raised by some Administrative Secretaries, the Chief Secretary asked all the Secretaries to come up with suggestions if any for improvement or modifications in the guidelines required to be followed for preparation of RFD so that the same would be discussed during the next meeting of the Committee of Secretaries, sources informed.
“Though explicit directives have been issued for formulation of RFD but only time will tell as to how much seriousness will be shown in this regard keeping in view non-serious approach towards the directives of the Union Cabinet Secretariat adopted by the State till date”, sources said, adding “now the ball is in the court of the Administrative Secretaries for translating the directions of the Union Cabinet Secretariat into reality”.
The Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System for the Government departments was introduced by the Union Government in the year 2009 and in the Chief Secretaries Conference held in February 2010, it was decided that the Performance Management Division of the Union Cabinet Secretariat will provide assistance to the States in implementing Results Framework Document mechanism at the State level.
Though many States immediately evinced keen interest in the RFD, Jammu and Kashmir remained slept over the new methodology of monitoring and evaluating the performance of the departments. However, in the year 2012, the State decided to implement RFD and Union Cabinet Secretariat extended all help in this regard.
Based on the trial conducted during the last quarter of 2012-2013, almost all the departments prepared Results Framework Document for the financial year 2013-14. “Though it is officially stated that RFD for 2013-14 was implemented but whether evaluation was conducted and what was its outcome vis-à-vis performance of departments was never made public”, sources said.
Similarly, during 2014-15, the exercise for having Results Framework Document was initiated with some vigor but the same vanished within few months because of lack of interest not only from the officers of the concerned departments but also from the top of the bureaucracy, sources said, adding “now non-seriousness towards Results Framework Document is being covered by stating that September 2014 floods and subsequent elections, which kept the bureaucracy busy, were the main reason behind no focus on this methodology”.
“All this clearly indicates that directives of the Performance Management Division of Union Cabinet Secretariat have never received the required focus till date”, sources regretted while disclosing that at Central level, the Departments have linked the RFD with the points contained in the manifesto of the ruling party released on the eve of elections.
It is worthwhile to mention here that RFD provides a summary of the most important results that a department expects to achieve during the financial year. Moreover, it is essentially a record of understanding between a Minister representing the people’s mandate and the Secretary of a Department responsible for implementing this mandate. This document contains not only the agreed objectives, policies, programs and projects but also success indicators and targets to measure progress in implementing them.
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